Montana Mavericks, Books 1-4

by Diana Palmer

  “Here.”

  She stopped, listened. Nothing. “Judd?”

  “Here.”

  “Where? Keep talking,” she ordered. His voice had been so low and weak. Fear crawled along her spine. “Judd?”

  “Here.”

  She found him lying on the bank between two boulders. One foot still in the water, as if the effort to pull it out had been too much for him. When she touched him, his skin was cold.

  “You’ll catch pneumonia,” she murmured.

  “Yeah. The water’s cold.”

  She ran one hand over him while she held the light with the other. She couldn’t find any injuries. “You fell from the cliff?”

  “Yes. Caught a bush…but it wouldn’t hold.” He was plainly irritated by this fact. “A damned goat sneaked up on me.”

  She’d thought he was lucid until this last statement. Now she realized he must be delirious. “Don’t try to talk,” she soothed. “Save your strength.”

  “Trace, be careful. Winona said you were in danger.” He pushed himself up on his elbows and glanced all around.

  Tears filled her eyes as she realized he was concerned for her. “I’ll be careful. Sterling is with me.”

  “Good,” he muttered. “That’s good.”

  She straightened and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Sterling!” she yelled as loudly as she could. She waved the flashlight in the air. “I’ve found him.”

  “Coming,” he called at once.

  She stripped out of her rain jacket and laid it over Judd. The drizzle went right through her shirt. “Hurry,” she shouted.

  “I’m here.” He spoke near her, startling her.

  “Thank God,” she said. “He’s hurt. I don’t know how bad.” Training the light on Judd, she waited while the detective pulled him onto the path and checked him over.

  “His leg is broken. I’ll make a splint. Then we’ll get him to the hospital.”

  He found a stick and secured it to Judd’s leg with their belts. They were going to carry him, but Judd insisted he could walk. After making a rude sound, Sterling lifted his boss to his feet. Tracy swung one of Judd’s arms over her shoulder while Sterling did the same. They headed for the road where the vehicles were parked. It seemed to take forever.

  Tracy’s shoulders were burning by the time they hoisted Judd into Sterling’s cruiser. The detective gave Tracy her coat and tucked a blanket around the patient.

  “Follow me,” Sterling ordered.

  Reluctantly, she left Judd and got into her car.

  They arrived at the hospital in record time. The nurse recognized her when she entered the emergency room and joined Sterling. The woman smiled reassuringly, then bent over Judd.

  The trauma team on duty that night checked him over, then wheeled him into a curtained area. They were teasing Judd about taking a dip in the creek at his age. Tracy wished they’d get on with it. She’d seen the paleness of his skin despite his tan.

  Sterling went to call Jessica to let her know what had happened. By the time Judd was taken to have his leg set in a cast, Jessica as well as Jackson and Maggie Hawk had arrived, Jessica after first dropping Jennifer at a sitter’s. Lily Mae breezed in hot on their heels.

  “I listen to the police band,” she explained when Tracy stared at her in surprise. “I brought you some soup.”

  “Thank you, but I couldn’t eat,” Tracy said. She had no time for food now, not when Judd was hurt.

  “For later.” Lily Mae brought coffee and forced Tracy to drink it. “You’re wet clear through, child,” the widow scolded.

  Tracy thanked her for her care. “I’d better call Winona,” she murmured, feeling as if she needed to talk to her friend. She borrowed some money and went to the pay phone by the door.

  Winona answered on the first ring. “Tracy?”

  “Yes.” Tracy told her what had happened.

  “I saw the wolf,” Winona said in confirmation, “and called Judd. I knew you were in danger and needed him.”

  “He’s hurt because of me.” Tracy was guilt stricken.

  “No, because of some crazy person who’s committed a crime and doesn’t want to be discovered,” Winona corrected. “Take care of him. He needs you.”

  Tracy swallowed as emotion tightened her throat. “I will,” she promised solemnly. “I owe him.”

  Winona chuckled suddenly. “You may pay more than you mean to.” She said good-night and hung up.

  Tracy returned to the hospital cafeteria and joined the others. Lily Mae had gone to visit a patient. She’d left a container of soup with Jessica to give to Tracy.

  Another patrol car arrived. Rafe Rawlings got out and came inside. “How is he?” he inquired of Sterling.

  “He has a broken leg. That’s all we know.”

  Kane Hunter entered through the hallway leading to the emergency room. “He’s fine, grouchy as a spring bear and demanding to go home. He’s had a painkiller and is a little groggy right now. Who’s going to baby-sit him tonight?”

  “I am,” Tracy said.

  Several pairs of eyes turned to her. Sterling nodded. “Good idea,” he said. A smile appeared on the tough detective’s mouth. “I’ll help you get him home. His place or yours?”

  The question was so suggestive—and Sterling, the rat, knew it—that Tracy blushed. Jessica frowned at her grinning husband. Maggie did the same with hers.

  “Jessica, your dinner!” Tracy exclaimed, remembering suddenly. “It’s ruined.”

  “Now don’t you worry about that,” the other woman soothed. “I’ll bring you a plate over in a little while.”

  “I have the fry bread in the car,” Jackson stated.

  It ended that the two men took Judd home in the patrol car. At the house, they dressed him in pajamas, and put him to bed while Tracy found coffee in the kitchen and put on a pot.

  Jessica and Maggie brought over the food, which consisted of Brunswick stew, plus a salad and dinner rolls.

  “Do you feel like eating?” Tracy asked Judd, going into the master bedroom a few minutes later.

  “Yes. I don’t need a baby-sitter. Kane is worse than a mother hen. Tell everyone to leave.”

  “That wouldn’t be polite. We’re having dinner here.”

  She glanced around the bedroom as they talked. The furniture was made of golden oak. It had belonged to Judd before they were married. His parents had given it to him.

  The room was the same as when they’d lived there. Even the family picture of Thadd, Judd and her hung on the wall in its usual place near the dresser.

  “I looked for that,” she said. “When I left.”

  “I took it to the office.”

  Their eyes locked for a long minute. She sensed the questions that neither of them could voice. It was too soon. The attraction between them was too compelling to ignore, but the old hurts were still too raw to examine at present.

  She switched to a safer subject. “Were you injured anywhere besides your leg?”

  “Some scrapes. Nothing major. The break was clean. It should heal without a problem.” He glanced at his palms.

  “Good.” She moved closer and looked at them, too. “Oh, Judd, your hands.”

  The gouges weren’t deep, but they were extensive. Kane had cleaned them with an antibiotic and sprayed on a medical coating of synthetic skin until Judd’s own could grow back.

  “How did you happen to fall?” she asked.

  “Damned if I know,” he responded with a grouchy frown. “I thought one of Winona’s goats butted me in the back of my bad knee. Crazy.” He shook his head.

  “Not so crazy,” Sterling corrected, coming in with a tray. “Someone could have hit you in the leg. I noticed a round rock there where the skid marks were—a hefty one about four inches in diameter. That would have done the trick.”

  Tracy recalled the rock that hadn’t made an impression in the dirt, which indicated it hadn’t been in that spot long.

  “But why?” Jessica came in with a cu
p of coffee for Judd.

  Jackson and Maggie joined them. Soon they were all sitting in the bedroom, eating their supper and discussing the case.

  “Does this mean someone is afraid of the bones?” Maggie asked.

  Everyone looked at her.

  “You know, like if we find out who the bones belonged to, then we’d know who killed the person?”

  “It must be someone local, someone still here,” Jessica said, “someone who doesn’t want to be discovered.”

  “Kane said something.” Sterling paused and studied Tracy. “He said there’s a hermit who roams the area, a man named Homer Gilmore. He’s harmless, but he does look rather weird—long, gray hair that sticks out around his head, sharp facial features. He prospects around in the hills. He has been known to scare the life out of unsuspecting backpackers.”

  “It wasn’t an old man,” she said. “Not unless he was dressed in a variety of Indian clothes and something that looked like a Halloween mask with a werewolf face, plus a wig made out of buffalo hide. It was…very strange.”

  “To say the least,” Jessica agreed. “To scare someone that way—the knives and all—was a terrible thing to do.”

  “The person may have meant to do more than scare Tracy.” Judd scowled with visible anger. “He threw a knife at her.”

  “Well, at my car,” she corrected with a faint smile. “I don’t know that he was trying to actually hit me.”

  Sterling gave the three women a stern raking with his dark eyes. “When someone has a weapon, you always assume he means to kill you. Always, got that?”

  “Right,” Judd declared.

  “Absolutely,” Jackson stated unequivocally.

  The three women looked at the three fierce, unsmiling men. They nodded solemnly.

  Tracy studied the convivial group. A feeling of peace descended over her, in spite of the day’s odd, dangerous events. She was among friends. She felt as if she’d come home.

  A welter of emotions washed over her, destroying the brief contentment. Yearning so painful she had to clench her teeth to hold it back rose to her throat.

  She looked at the two married couples, then at Judd. Once they had been like that—happy and in love. Once…She wanted it again.

  Ten

  “Call if you need anything,” Maggie told Tracy as she and Jackson left the house. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

  Tracy waved to the couple, then closed the door. It had been a pleasant evening. Even Judd, in spite of his painful leg, had laughed and chatted with ease.

  He and Sterling McCallum were cut from the same cloth, she thought. Jackson was more open. Or maybe he seemed that way because she’d known him most of her life.

  She poured a glass of water, glanced around the kitchen, which the three women had cleaned, then returned to the master bedroom.

  “Where are the painkillers Kane gave you?” she asked.

  “Who said he did?” Judd challenged. “Besides, I don’t need anything for pain. I feel fine. You can go home.”

  She ignored his dismissal and rummaged through his damp clothing, which was hanging in the bathroom. She found several packets of pills. She opened one, dumped the two tablets on her palm and carried them to him with the water.

  “I can tell you’re hurting,” she said softly.

  “You can read minds?” he demanded. “Even Winona can’t do that. You two should go into business together.”

  “Don’t be a goose,” she reprimanded mildly. “You get a tense look around the eyes when you’re in pain.” She held out the pills.

  He snorted, threw the tablets into his mouth, took the glass and swallowed the medicine in one gulp. He finished off the water and set the glass on the lamp table. “There, all gone.”

  “Good. Do you want to sleep or shall I read to you?”

  “Neither,” he said, giving her a sour glance. “You can go.”

  “I’m spending the night.”

  “Like hell!”

  “It might come to that.” She grinned at him, feeling very much in control. He could hardly get up and throw her out…well, knowing Judd, he probably could, but he wouldn’t.

  He took a deep breath. “Look, I appreciate your TLC, but I’m all right. Really. You don’t have to play nurse.”

  “I’m staying.” She took his wet clothing from the bathroom and went to the laundry room, which was right off the kitchen. She tossed the clothes in the tub, saw a basket of other items, sorted them, added them to the load and started the machine.

  While she checked the refrigerator and started a grocery list, she wondered if he did his own cooking and cleaning. Tomorrow she would bring over food from her place.

  Hmm, perhaps she’d better go tonight. She needed her pajamas and toiletries.

  She realized she was planning on staying for more than the night. But maybe not. There had been wariness and resentment in Judd’s eyes whenever he’d looked her way during the evening.

  Sighing, she rubbed the slight tension headache that had settled in the back of her skull and considered what to do. Well, she’d stay until Judd was up and about. Kane had said he’d drop off a pair of crutches in the morning.

  With that off her mind, she checked on Judd, found him asleep or pretending to be, and left the house. At the cottage, she loaded up bags with groceries and packed a change of clothing along with her pj’s and ditty bag. She returned to Judd’s home.

  When she went in the front door, she heard him cursing in the bedroom. She dropped her stuff on the sofa and rushed to the back of the house.

  She found him hanging on to a chair with one hand and the wall with the other. “What are you doing?” she cried, angry that he would take a chance on hurting himself.

  “Going to the bathroom. The damned floor seems to be bucking like a mustang,” he complained. “I thought you’d left.”

  “I went to get my things. Here.” She slipped an arm around his lean waist and drew his arm over her shoulder. “Come on.”

  He hopped while she steadied him. They reached the bathroom. She let him go and waited. He glared at her. “Waiting for the peep show? The admission is two dollars.”

  Heat flared in her face at his rude remark. “I’ve seen it all before. For free.” She flounced out.

  “It was never free,” he muttered. “Woman always cost men a hell of a lot.”

  She closed the door, ignoring the sarcastic remark. Going to the bed, she fluffed up the pillows and straightened the covers, folding the sheet down so that all would be ready when he returned.

  When the door opened, she hurried across the room and offered him her arm to lean on. He accepted her aid without a word.

  “Thanks,” he said when she pulled the sheet over him. “I’m sorry I snapped earlier.”

  She was surprised at his apology. Peering at his face, she saw that his eyes were closed, his brows bunched in an unconscious grimace of weariness. Her heart went out to him.

  After turning the light low, she went to the guest room, made up the bed with sheets she found in the hall closet and changed into her pajamas and robe. She washed up and returned to his room.

  Choosing a comfortable chair, she sat in it and watched the drizzle run down the windowpanes in zigzag lines. She sighed and wished she could see into the future. She very much wanted to know what tomorrow would bring.

  “Trace.”

  She opened her eyes, realized where she was and sat up straight. Judd was restless on the bed. He said her name again, this time louder and in a worried tone. She went to him.

  “I’m here,” she said softly.

  He opened his eyes and stared at her. “Be careful,” he warned. “There’s danger.”

  “I’m okay. I’m here with you,” she reminded him.

  She saw comprehension dawn in his eyes. He flicked a quick gaze over the room, sizing up the situation in that swift way he had. “I remember,” he said. “I was dreaming.”

  “Yes.” She checked the clock, then got more water from th
e bathroom and opened another packet of pills. “Here, you can take two more of these now. I think you need them.”

  “My eyes tense again?”

  When she glanced up at the taunting remark, she saw the wicked light in his eyes. “You must be feeling better if you’re up to teasing,” she murmured, pleased.

  “I feel like hell,” he admitted. “My leg is throbbing and itching at the same time.”

  “I’ll rub it,” she volunteered.

  After he swallowed the medicine and set the glass aside, she pulled back the sheet and pushed his pajama leg up. “Lucky for you, you landed in a pool,” she told him.

  “Not so lucky. I kicked out from the cliff in order to hit the deep part of the creek. If I’d been just another foot over, I wouldn’t have hit a rock and broken my leg.”

  “Umm,” she crooned sympathetically. She rubbed his toes, avoiding the areas that were a nice shade of purple. When she moved above the cast to his knee, he grunted as if her touch hurt.

  “Sore there,” he said when she looked at him.

  “Let me see.” She checked the back of his knee. “You have a bruise here, too. That rock on the bluff—remember, you thought one of Winona’s goats had hit you? But it must have been the rock Sterling found.”

  “Yeah, I remember.” He stopped her hands when she slid them under the pajama material and massaged his thigh. “You’ll have me hurting someplace else if you keep that up.”

  “Huh,” she said skeptically.

  “My powers of recuperation are remarkable.”

  “They must be if you’re up to bragging so soon after your fall.” She spoke with some asperity.

  He smiled slightly and lay against the pillows with his eyes closed while she rubbed his toes again.

  “Tonight was fun, wasn’t it?” she said a few minutes later. “It’s nice to have friends.”

  “Don’t you have any friends in California?”

  “Yes, but…” She couldn’t tell him it was different being part of a couple and sharing things with other couples, rather than a single as she was in her other life…her real life.

  She let his foot go and covered him with the sheet. Sitting in the chair, she reminded herself that she was living in a fool’s world to think of herself and Judd as a couple again.